Posts tagged ‘elections’

A project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center, FactCheck.org reviews candidate statements, advertisements, and viral emails. The site calls itself “a nonpartisan, nonprofit ‘consumer advocate’ for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics.” If you don’t see the fact you want checked, try the Ask FactCheck feature.

This Pulitzer-Prize winning site from the Tampa Bay Times measures politicians’ statements using a Truth-O-Meter, which rates statements on a scale from True to Pants on Fire. The design of the site’s home page lets you quickly scan the statements and their ratings, and each rating is accompanied by a detailed article explaining Politifact’s decision.

Project Vote Smart is a citizen and volunteer-based nonprofit which attempts to provide “access to abundant, accurate, and relevant information about those who govern us and those who wish to replace those who do.” Enter your ZIP code to find profiles of your representatives, including biographical information, voting records, issue positions, interest group ratings, public statements, and campaign finances. VoteEasy is an interactive application which matches candidates to your political beliefs.

Sponsored by the St. Petersburg Times, the Pulitzer Prize-winning PolitiFact aims “to help you find the truth in politics” by researching and reporting on “statements by members of Congress, the president, cabinet secretaries, lobbyists, people who testify before Congress and anyone else who speaks up in Washington.” The site rates the truthfulness of these statements on their Truth-O-Meter. Their Obameter tracks more than 500 Obama campaign promises to measure the president’s progress.

A project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania, FactCheck.org “monitor[s] the factual accuracy of what is said by major U.S. political players in the form of TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews and news releases.” A recent article, for example, analyzes the truthfulness of the claims made in Jack Conway’s “Aqua Buddha” ad.